MWC: Microsoft releases Windows 8 Consumer Preview

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this afternoon, head of Microsoft’s Windows division Steven Sinofsky officially unveiled the consumer preview edition of Windows 8 – and you can download it right away.

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is ready to be downloaded.

At the Mobile World Congress this afternoon in Barcelona, Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft and members of his engineering leadership team, took the stage to showcase the operating system. The Consumer Preview is the beta milestone for Windows 8, described by Microsoft as “more than the next version of the operating system, but a re-imagining of Windows””.

While the Windows 8 Consumer Preview is not the final version, and not intended for day-to-day use, Microsoft has positioned it as “”a more robust experience for testing the world’s most popular operating system””. It is making it available to the widest range of people yet following the initial release of the Windows 8 Developer Preview late last year. The Developer Preview received more than 3 million downloads.

‚With Windows 8, we reimagined the different ways people interact with their PC and how to make everything feel like a natural extension of the device, whether using a Windows 8 tablet, laptop or all-in-one,‚ said Sinofsky. ‚The Windows 8 Consumer Preview brings a no-compromises approach to using your PC.‚

At the event in Barcelona, Micorsoft shared the following updates in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview:

Broad range of product changes and improvements

Windows Store with new apps

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Connecting to the cloud across Windows-based PCs and Windows Phone

Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 5

Preview of new hardware capabilities

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview will be available worldwide for download in English, French, German, Japanese and simplified Chinese languages. More information about Windows 8 and how to download the Consumer Preview is available at http://preview.windows.com orhttp://windowsteamblog.com.

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